What a feeling

Went down to the local Lake Shore Equipment Supply CO. (LESCO) yesterday morning to stock up on some supplies. I wiped them out on two different products, buying all they had in stock. Just as the two pallets of material were loaded on my truck, one of the local lawn scrubs pulled in, wanting to pruchase one bag of material. They told him that I was the man to see, as I had just bought it all.

In a sorry sounding voice, he said" I need a bag of that there stuff". Sorry buddy, early bird gets the worm.

Don't get me wrong, if it was someone I knew, I would have gladly helped them out. This was a scrub, in the scrubbiest sence of the word.

Are you proud of that? Just because you bought two pallets of the stuff you are better than him. I am so sick of this scrub thing. Everybody has to start somewhere. It might have been me that wanted one bag, so what. I work my butt off just as hard as the next guy. I may not have 120 accounts with 90% commercial but I do good work for people. I work a full time job and do lawn care during the day. Does that make me a scrub? I don't think so.

Man, I don't think that was too cool!! Great your better then him and all, but if you were running to Lesco to grab a bag of something you just found out you needed for a quick fix at an account, and you saw a guy leaving with the last 2 plallets of it, how would you feel if he wouldn't sell you one of them? Why didn't you just charge him double for it or something?

This goes beyond being a professional in the industry, it goes into being a good person. You summed this guy up by the way he looked/talked, fine, thats life these days, but he could have been licensed, insured, etc, you don't know that!!

I don't know why your proud of screwing up someones whole day?? That would piss my a$$ off for at least the rest of the day, and I'd probobly have some choice words for you too!

I probally should have made it a little more clear. I bought an assortment of products, including the last 6 bags of Dursban that they had. The Dursban was the product in question, and I knew that I would have all that material down by today.

I know that this fellow was not a licensed applicator. Our license numbers are required to be displyed of the sides of out vehicles, and he had none. If he did not have an applicators license, I am fairly certian that he would not have a pesticide application endorsement on his insurance policy. BTW it was a 70's vintage pickup, exhaust dragging on the ground, blue door, green bed, red front end... You get the picture.

I have been in that situation, on the other end. There have been times that I ran short, needed one bag to finish a job, and there was none to be found. I had to suck it up, and go elsewhere to find it. I learned long ago that you need to plan ahead, to avoid those situations at all cost. It has made me a better businessman because of it.

He is learning the same way as I did, the hard way. I'll bet that in the future he will keep suffecient stock on hand to take care of any unexpected problems.

Guido- I wouldn't blame himif he wouldn't sell me any, fair is fair, he got there first, and it would have been my fault for not pre-planning.

Larry- Thought about that, but I made a nice buck spreading the material.

Hope you guys don't think less of me but I just bought a 71' Ford F-250 that is sweet. I must look like Fred Sanford going down the road but I love this truck. It pulls trailors like nothing and gets descent MPG with the 300 6 cylinder.
The thing sounds and runs like new, I parked the 93' Chevy for a while. It's like riding around in Marlboro country all the time.

I would have asked him to show proof of a pesticide license before selling him any. My markup is usually 50% in a case like that, less if he acts like a gentleman or at least civilized.
Explain that you could get in trouble by selling to anm unlicensed applicator, & also a good time to fill him in on being "above board".
Larry, I now know how you've become "a man of large physical presence"-all your time & money saving ideas pay for your trips to Sizzler, Red Lobster, & old co. buffet as you've mentioned

I bet you were one of those guys that used to point and laugh at me when I first started out (scrub)....Driving a jeep and pulling a 16' trailer with only one 32" exmark. I was proud to be me and I bet I did better work too. I like to make friends not lose them and when I get big I will never be like you. I will always want to help the little guy out, Hell we were all there once!!!! I wonder if that poor guy with no fertilizer would have refered you to a customer one day?? Probably not BAD MOVE BUDDY!!